Iran voices extreme worries over Rohingyas' plight in Myanmar

Rohingya refugees head back to Myanmar as Bangladeshi border guards drive them away from Bangladeshi territory near Ukhiya on August 28, 2017. (Photos by AFP)

Iran has voiced its deepest worries over Myanmar’s continued military crackdown against Rohingya Muslims.

On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi called on the government in Myanmar to halt the continued violation of human rights of Muslims and end the present inhuman and violent situation in the country.

He further urged Myanmar to adopt a realistic approach towards establishing peace and a peaceful coexistence with the Rohingya.

“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is extremely worried by the continued violation of the rights of Muslims in Myanmar, which has led to their deaths and forced immigration," Qassemi said.

Rohingya leaders say 8,000 to 9,000 Rohingya have entered Bangladesh since a fresh wave of violence broke out in Rakhine last Thursday.

At least 104 people have been killed in the fresh bout of violence involving Myanmar’s military and the armed group. The official death toll as of Sunday was 96.

Renewed violence erupted on August 25 after dozens of police and border outposts in Rakhine allegedly came under attack by a group claiming to be advocating the Muslim Rohingyas against the government crackdown in Rakhine. A total of 89 people, including 12 security personnel, were killed during the violence.

Turkey: World ‘blind and deaf’ to Rohingya plight

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the international community to increase its efforts to helping Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya community.

"Unfortunately I can say the world is blind and deaf to what is going on in Myanmar," he said, adding that, "It does not hear and it does not see."

He further referred the latest fleeing of refugees towards Bangladesh as an "extremely painful event" while promising to bring up the issue at the UN General Assembly next month.

Myanmar’s government brands the 1.1 million-strong Rohingya population in the country as “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh. Rohingya Muslims, however, have had roots in the country that go back centuries. They are considered by the UN the “most persecuted minority group in the world.”

Myanmar border police check people fleeing from a conflict area at a check point near the entrance of Maungdaw township in Myanmar's Rakhine State on August 28, 2017.

The government used a militant attack on border guards back in October 2016 as a pretext to enforce the blockade on Rakhine.

There have been numerous eyewitness accounts of summary executions, rapes, and arson attacks by the military since the crackdown began.

Some 87,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since last year amid the crackdown.